It’s not everyday that we get to write about the top prospect in MLB being promoted to the majors. Today is that day. Jackson Holliday is headed up to Baltimore to make his debut with the Orioles. 

The recent injuries to Framber Valdez, Spencer Strider, Shane Bieber, Trevor Story, Willson Contreras, Josiah Gray, and Geraldo Perdomo have left holes in teams' lineups and rotations, respectively, that have to be filled. Whether or not these MLB prospects are long-term fantasy players or not will be decided over time, but each has a skillset that could be helpful for fantasy baseball managers in the shorter term.

Let’s dive into this loaded week of fantasy baseball prospect news.

 

 

 

Fantasy Baseball Prospects 2024: MLB Prospect Risers & Noteworthy Players

Jackson Holliday — SS Baltimore Orioles

The headliner is leading things off this week with the news he’s been called up. The Orioles’ fans who’ve been pining for some young bats to be called up, as have fantasy managers. The time has arrived. There is basically nothing the 20-year-old can’t do on a baseball field as he’s proven so far since being drafted number one overall in 2022. 

Holliday has put up sparkling numbers over his 155 minor league games with a .321/.451/.497 slash line with 15 HR, 145 R, 93 RBI, and 29 SB with 40 2B and nine 3B thrown in. At his best he’s a .300 hitter with 25 HR, 25 SB upside in the majors while playing shortstop in a great lineup that’s getting better. 

If Holliday is still available in your league the upside is good enough to highly recommend a pickup in free agency or FAAB this week and dropping struggling hitters as Holliday will play every day in Baltimore.

Spencer Arrighetti — RHP Houston Astros

The loss of Framber Valdez to the Houston rotation leaves a hole to fill and earlier this week it was announced that it’d be filled by Arrighetti. Arrighetti has been Houston’s top pitching prospect since Hunter Brown graduated and he’s got a solid arsenal to work with. 

The 60-grade slider is the best offering while his 55-grade fastball and curveball give him three above-average or better pitches. The change is still developing as he didn’t have to use it that much throughout college to be successful. 

The problem Arrighetti has run into the last couple of seasons is his lack of control causing a lot more walks than he should have. That uptick in walks is raising his ratios and limiting his effectiveness. If he gets the control under control, excuse the pun, the 24-year-old righty has the stuff to be a number-three starter with very good strikeout numbers. That’s a big ask though.

Allan Winans — RHP Atlanta Braves

The Braves needed an arm to fill out the rotation after Spencer Strider wound up on the IL. Winans is that arm. The 28-year-old is a pitcher. What I mean but that is that he doesn’t have pure overwhelming stuff but he controls his stuff immaculately and mixes pitches well to keep hitters off-balance. This has given Winans a better stat line than a guy with three-pitches, only one of which is above-average, should be capable of. 

Over 305.1 innings in the minors, the righty has a 283:92 K:BB ratio, a 2.83 ERA, and a 1.08 WHIP. He is the prototypical fifth starter who is crafty and keeps teams in games by keeping hard contact to a minimum.

There’s not a ton of fantasy value here other than if he can last five innings there’s win upside given the offense that’s backing him and decent strikeout numbers. Winans is a healthy backend arm and nothing more who could simply be holding a spot for AJ Smith-Shawver or Hurston Waldrep later in the season.

David Hamilton — SS Boston Red Sox

The loss of Trevor Story to a shoulder injury, possibly for the year, is a huge loss for Boston. For right now they’ve called up Hamilton from Triple-A Worcester. The 26-year-old middle infielder has a key calling card: SPEED. That skill rates as a 75-grade on the 20-80 scale and has led him to post 179 steals in 328 MiLB games.

Hamilton won’t rack up 55+ steals in a season in the majors, mainly due to the lack of his other skills, namely his 40-grade hit tool. In the same period, he racked up those steals he posted a .251/.346/.420 slash line over 1,277 at-bats. It’s entirely possible that he’ll platoon at shortstop in the majors most likely but with Victor Scott II likely on his last go in St. Louis, Hamilton could get you the speed you were getting from Scott.

 

 

 

Pedro Pages — C St. Louis Cardinals

The former 2019 6th round pick for the Cardinals, made his MLB debut earlier this week due to a sore hand on Willson Contreras and Lars Nootbar being on the IL. He showed well in spring training and has been making strides the last two years in the upper minors with healthy batting averages (.267 a year ago) and double-digit home runs. 

The skillset is ok for a catcher but the problem is that he’s simply blocked. When Contreras is healthy, Ivan Herrera is his backup and they have a few options for DH as well. He’ll be on the shuttle from Memphis to St. Louis a couple of times this year.

Joey Cantillo — LHP Cleveland Guardians

The Guardians were likely in need of pitching before Shane Bieber’s injury but now they definitely need reinforcements. That could come in the form of Cantillo after his 119.1 innings between Double-A and Triple-A in 2023. The southpaw has a prototypically arsenal for a lefty with a low-to-mid-90s fastball and a plus changeup that anchors the four-pitch mix. 

The slider and curveball are both at least average offerings working in the upper-70s to mid-80s. His stuff profiles as a mid-rotation starter, however the control, or shall we say lack thereof, has him more in the back-end-starter discussion. Cantillo has a solid K-rate, posting over 11 K/9 last year however he also had more than 5 BB/9 and things got rough when he reached Triple-A. 

His 4.64 ERA over 95 innings isn’t terrible for a back-end starter but his 5.26 FIP and 5.10 xFIP aren’t great. Cantillo is really only a deep league option for a guy who can strikeout a decent amount of batters and if he can keep the park in the the ratios aren’t bad either. He won’t be a Bieber replacement for stats, but a healthy arm is solid enough right now.

Jackson Rutledge — RHP Washington Nationals

The news of Josiah Gray going down with a forearm strain isn’t great and leaves a potential hole in the Nationals’ rotation. Rutledge has had a long road through the minors but made it to the majors for 20 innings last year. He’s starting back at Triple-A this year after a solid spring training with the Nationals. The stuff he possesses is electric but wild. 

The walk rate is a concern at times as is coming into the strike zone to even a count and getting hit more than he should. If he fills in for Gray, we should see a guy who’s capable of more than a K/IP but a guy who struggles to keep the ball in the park at times and balloons his ratios a tad.

Blaze Alexander — INF Arizona Diamondbacks

I wrote up Alexander a couple of weeks ago about a prospect who was breaking camp with the team. Since then he’s played quite a bit and he’s now playing shortstop with Geraldo Perdomo out for 4-6 weeks with a torn meniscus. 

His bat has been very solid in the small sample, the defense on the other hand hasn’t. The bat will keep him in the lineup but the glove is a question mark and may limit his upside as part of a platoon at DH. If he’s available in your deep league and you need a bat with some power and speed Alexander could fill that need.